Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa has been cast in a new play as Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe, the Royal Shakespeare Company has announced.
Born With Teeth will explore the relationship between a 27-year-old Marlowe and rising star William Shakespeare, as they are forced to work together on a new piece of work.
Gatwa said he was “so excited” to be appearing in the play, which he said was “like no version of Shakespeare and Marlowe that I’ve ever seen before”. Shakespeare will be portrayed by Edward Bluemel, who has starred in Killing Eve, A Discovery of Witches, and alongside Gatwa in Sex Education.
The show will play for 11 weeks at the Wyndham’s Theatre from August 13. Born With Teeth, written Liz Duffy Adams, will take an “irreverent” look at the ‘high octane world of two of the theatre’s greatest literary icons”, the RSC said.
Set in the backroom of a pub in 1591, the show sees Marlowe and Shakespeare forced to come together across three secret meetings to collaborate on a new play.
It is a dangerous time for artists in England, a country rife with paranoia where spies are everywhere, and as the rivals duel with each other, they become increasingly tempted by the idea of betrayal.
The play premiered in Houston in 2022 and has since been performed around the United States in Oregon, California and Florida, but this will mark its West End debut.
The United Kingdom production will be directed by Daniel Evans, whose previous stage credits include a production of American Buffalo starring Damian Lewis and John Goodman, and the James Graham play Quiz, about the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire coughing scandal.
